Guillermo del Toro talks Harry Potter

As most of you know, I recently did an epic hour-long video interview with director Guillermo del Toro, and over the past week I’ve been breaking it down into smaller segments. For today’s installment, del Toro talks about the status of Disney’s Haunted Mansion and his love of Harry Potter. While it’s been awhile since we’ve heard anything on Haunted Mansion, del Toro said:

“I delivered my last draft five weeks ago. I have a meeting with them in three weeks. I know they like the screenplay. I need to meet with them in three weeks. That’s what I know. I know their reaction to the draft was good. We have a bunch of conceptualist art, but you never know, to predict anything else is hard for me to know.”

He goes on to say that while he came on board as a writer and producer, he thinks Disney is waiting for him to say he wants to direct it. But according to del Toro, “I’m in the middle of Pacific Rim and I don’t know what I’m going to do next.” More after the jump.

From the way del Toro talks about Haunted Mansion, it’s clear the project is still moving forward but it doesn’t have anything resembling a release date.

Regarding Harry Potter, del Toro talks about his love of the books and how he almost directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. However, when I brought up the possibility of Warner Bros. eventually rebooting the series, del Toro was pretty adamant that he wouldn’t be involved by saying, “I would not tamper with that.”

Here’s the section of the interview on Harry Potter and Haunted Mansion. Look for more with del Toro tomorrow night.

Collider: Is there anything you’ve been offered or come close to doing that you still think about, “Man, I really wish I’d said yes,” or, “I wish that’d gone to me?” Is there that one property that still stings a little bit?

GUILLERMO DEL TORO: To me, the final books of Harry Potter. They’re fantastic. I always loved the books and I think, often, that world, those actors was amazing. I really think about that one, not with regret, but with great curiosity, because I love them. The first two books were a revelation. When I didn’t take the third one, I was reacting more to the two movies that came first and I felt the tone was much lighter than the books. I thought the books had almost a more Dickensian pathos and I was very afraid of going into an experience where the tonal shift was going to be so big at that scale. I was timid.

What’s interesting is, the property of Harry Potter is so massive and such a machine for Warner Brothers, obviously they’re still trying to figure out how they’re going to replace the box office from that…I would imagine at some point down the road, whenever that may be, there’ll either be a reboot, a TV show, there’ll be something. If they ever came to you in ten years and said, “We’re thinking about doing Harry Potter as an HBO, 13-episode thing…”

DEL TORO: No, because I think it’s an iconic property at this stage. It is a beautifully realized world that has a beginning, a middle and an end. It’s not an open playground. The Harry Potter films should be loved for what they are already, you know what I’m saying? It’s a case closed.

I still think, with that amount of money, that Warner Bros. is going to say, either re-releasing them or whatever it may be.

DEL TORO: I would not tamper with that.

Neither would I, but, you know. Jumping into something else that came up recently, Disney has removed from their website, which has been there for a number of years, this Haunted Mansion page, which is no longer there. A lot of people are reading into this. Is there anything you want to tell people about Haunted Mansion?

DEL TORO: No, there’s no news. I delivered my last draft five weeks ago. I have a meeting with them in three weeks. I know they like the screenplay. I need to meet with them in three weeks. That’s what I know. I know their reaction to the draft was good. We have a bunch of conceptualist art, but you never know, to predict anything else is hard for me to know. I should have called them and said, “Hey.” Usually, it’s very hard for me to predict what a thing like that means.

It’s on the press site, I’m just telling you and everyone watching, they have a listing of all their movies, and Haunted Mansion has been there since Comic-Con when they put up their teaser thing. And recently, I guess, it’s not on the page anymore.

DEL TORO: Maybe I should give them a call. [laughs]

I don’t know if it’s because of any specific reason, but it still isn’t in front of cameras. You know what I mean?

DEL TORO: Yeah, I still would love to make that movie. I came on board originally as a writer and producer, the decision I think they may be waiting, is for me to say I’m directing the movie. Or am I directing it next, which is too early for me to know what I’m doing next in live-action. I’m in the middle of Pacific Rim and I don’t know what I’m going to do next.

Comments

I would have loved to see his take on HBP and DH. He's a dark director, and they're both dark books. It would have been the perfect match, and he almost directed DH, before dropping out for The Hobbit. And now, he's not even directing that.

I would have loved to see his take on HBP and DH. He's a dark director, and they're both dark books. It would have been the perfect match, and he almost directed DH, before dropping out for The Hobbit. And now, he's not even directing that.

Lord Stafford.

Tbh I would have absolutely loved him to direct the whole series...I love the look, the feel, the textures, quality, camera angles of his movies...I know he would have made Philosopher's Stone and Chamber a lot darker than what we got but those two books are rather dark in their own moments. I love Del Toro and would have absolutely loved a series started by him. He was in the running for PS in case anyone did not know. Then POA and just like Stafford said for the final two. I always consider it a shame he never got to direct one. He was always my first choice to direct a Potter whenever the time came around that fans would speculate online.

Yeah, he's prefect for these dark, magical stories. He knows enough to take them seriously. As much as I loved both DHs, it would be impossible to say they wouldn't have been better without Del Toro's hands on them. He just knows exactly what to do.

I'm am fervently hoping he gets around to doing Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness. If ever there was a director-material match made in heaven, that's gotta be it.

"No, because I think it’s an iconic property at this stage. It is a beautifully realized world that has a beginning, a middle and an end. It’s not an open playground. The Harry Potter films should be loved for what they are already, you know what I’m saying? It’s a case closed."

Love Del Toro, but Hellboy 2 was Pan's Labyrinth mixed with Hellboy, and he's right about that the films should be appreciated for what they are.

+1 for appreciating the films for what they are (but you'd expect as much from a director - to be respectful of other directors' work). May I ask how you thought Hellboy 2 was just a Hellboy-Pan's hybrid? Don't get me wrong: while Hellboy 2 was a great movie I very, very much prefer the first - but my problem with HB2 was that it went a little too big and and sprawling and I think they lost too much of the character drama in the muddle. I never really got a Pan's vibe from it - was it the inclusion of outright fairytale creatures?